Tendulkar trending #1 on IBM’s social sentiment index

Mumbai, India, March 21, 2013: Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar continues to rule the game of cricket even across social networks, followed by captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and opening batsman Murali Vijay. This is as per IBM’s Social Sentiment Index announced on the eve of the last test match in the the ongoing Border-Gavaskar cricket series between India and Australia. Ravindra Jadeja’s exceptional performance in the series makes him the most popular bowler in the Indian team.

A real time analysis on social sentiment of cricket fans and alike conducted by IBM during the first three matches shows that cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar consistently leads the overall conversation in this period. 50% of the public sentiment revolved around his batting performance followed by his past records, his stature and retirement plans, among others.

The index further revealed that negative sentiment towards Captain Dhoni was high at the beginning of the first match. However, his on field performance is reflective of how public sentiments changed making Dhoni the most positively referenced player in the series. Another interesting highlight was the emergence of Shikhar Dhawan on the social networks after his debut century – within 5 days, there was 200% growth in his online conversations.

For the first time, IBM applied advanced analytics software and natural language processing to cricket to build a social score board for the Indian Players based on the intensity of the sentiment and volume of online conversations. Over 1.2 lakh posts across a variety of platforms including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the blogging community were analysed during the first three matches in the current series.

Virginia Sharma, Vice President – Marketing & Communication, IBM India/South Asia, said, “Today, IBM is changing the game – both in business and in sports. By applying the social sentiment lens to cricket that has a multi-screen experience, we demonstrated how analytics can provide real time exciting insights into public preferences. This can be leveraged by organizations across the media, entertainment and sports industries to better understand their audience, determine endorsement values, and deliver effective marketing campaigns for their businesses”.